A new study on Climate Change Impact and Adaptation in the Lower
Mekong Basin has revealed that the effects of climate change in the
basin are worse than the global average.
Final
results of the United Sates Agency for International Development
(USAID)-funded study, that were released recently at a regional workshop
in Bangkok, indicate that changes in climate will likely trigger
decreases in yields and in the suitability of key commercial and staple
crops of the region.
The basic staple crop of the
region – the rain-fed rice – would see a significant decrease in yield
in seven out of eight provinces across the region that had been
identified by the study as “hot spots.”
These included two provinces of Vietnam , Gia Lai in the Central Highlands and Kien Giang in the Cuu Long ( Mekong ) Delta.
The study – that falls under USAID’s Lower Mekong Initiative –
downscaled the global climate models for this region that is not only
highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change but also significantly
dependent on its natural resources for livelihoods.
Apart from detailing climate projections and trends, the study examined
how changes in temperature and rainfall would affect land suitability
and species productivity for a range of livelihood sectors.
While the study’s main objective was to understand the impact of
climate change, other participants at the workshop called for a more
integrated approach that would take into consideration the development
influences that are already going on.
Representatives
from the Vietnamese Agriculture Ministry at the workshop, while
welcoming the study, took its results with caution, arguing that the
input for the study’s modelling should have been more comprehensive.
The Lower Mekong Basin , which covers parts or whole of four
countries Thailand , Laos , Cambodia and Vietnam , is home to 65
million people, 70 percent of whom are farmers and fishermen.-VNA